Entered according to Act of Congress, A. D. 1901, by A. N. BELL, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. THE SANITARIAN. JANUARY, 1902. INFLUENCE OF WATER UPON HEALTH AND By A. L. WOOD, M.D., of Brooklyn, N. Y. Some of the members of this Club seem to think it matters not what they eat, or what they drink, or what their other habits of life are; that as long as they think they are well and strong they will remain so. If this is the case, I do not see why they should join or attend the meetings of a club whose object is the study of health and longevity. I do not question the fact that there is much truth in the saying that "As a man thinketh so is he," but the thinking is not all. I£ you take poison into your stomach, thinking it will not harm you, you had better have a doctor near with an antidote or stomach pump. Or, if you intend drinking water contaminated with the germs of typhoid fever, you should make your will and prepare for the happy hereafter. While the subject of this paper is Water, I do not wish to convey the impression by what I may say of its importance for health and longevity, that I think water and its right use is the only thing that will aid us in attaining a long, useful and happy life. There are many other things of great importance, but the proper use of pure water is, perhaps, the most important of all. The question of food, involving the kind, quality, quantity, mode of preparation, time and manner of eating, mental and physical conditions attending digestion, etc., is very closely related to, and intertwined with, that of drink. So, also, is pure air. The three, water, solid food and air, are all foods which help to build up and keep the tissues of the body in repair, and are all absolutely necessary to sustain life. One can live but a few minutes without air, only a few days without water in some form; but men have lived *Read at the meeting of the 100-Year Club, New York, November 26, 1901. |